Grade Centre

Manage

Schemas

3. You will see the default schema for letter grades and any other schemas that you have already set up. You may edit these by clicking on the modify button beside them.

4. To create a new schema click on Create Grading Schema.

Name and Description

5. Enter a name and description for the new Grading Schema.

Details

6. Enter the grading schema you wish to use. You may add new rows by clicking on the arrow.

Note:
– A dash symbol may not be used as an entry.
– Each Display Symbol must be unique in the Grading Schema.
– The Percentage range should begin with the lower value first, and the ranges should over lap, e.g. A = 90 – 100%, B = 80 – 90% – C = 70 – 80% and so on.

7. Click Submit to finish.

Display Option

8. Whenever you modify a column or add a new one you will be able to apply your grading schema by choosing it from the Display option.

When upgrading Blackboard, we make every effort to test and document as much of the system as possible. However, it is not always possible to test every last feature, and as such we sometimes find bugs with the system after upgrades.

Blackboard have acknowledged the following as known issues in the Grade Centre:

Column Statistics for Total Column appears to be incorrect by not making clear that percentages are being used

The Total column shows a running total of relevant Grade Centre columns.

You can view Column Statistics to show information about the column:

The Minimum, Maximum and Average are meant to be shown as percentages, but this is not made clear.

In fact 5/200 is 0.025, i.e. 2.5%

22/200 is 0.11, i.e. 11%

The other statistics are worked out on these percentages.

Blackboard have acknowledged that this need to be made more explicit, that the results should be shown as percentages.

Issue Description: Calculated formula question marked incorrect despite matching the correct answer. This is an issue with the Calculated Formula grader when grading exponential numbers. Effectively when a User uses a higher or lower notation than the expected answer it will fail, although it is mathematically equivalent. A basic example is the answer for an exponential answer is: 1.66E-24 if you put the following value in: 166E-26 it will be marked as incorrect, even though it is mathematically correct.

Steps to Replicate:

Create a new Course.

Create a Test Assessment.

Create a Calculated Question.

Use the following Question Text: How many moles is a [x] molecule sample? For full credit include the correct abbreviated unit with your answer.

Use the following Formula: x/6.022×10^23.

Set Answer Units to: mol.

Set Precision to 3 Significant Figures.

Set the following MIN MAX values: 652.0. (0 Decimal Places)

Set Correct Answer Forum to: Exponential.

Set Answer Sets to: 1.

Perform a calculate and make note of the answer. (It should be 1.66E-24)

Save the Assessment and go in as an Instructor and attempt the Assessment. You should have set all feedback options to see the values being marked.

In the answer box type the following: 1.66E-24mol.

Submit the Assessment and see the feedback.

Note: You should have gotten a correct score. If not go in again and use that correct score to confirm.

Now attempt it again and change the value by removing the period in the value and increasing the exponential value by 2. IE: 1.66E-24 will turn into: 166E-26

This is still correct, and exponential works so that effectively you are just moving the decimal. So increasing it by 2 is still technically the right answer.

Attempt to Submit with this new value.

Observed Behaviour:
Note that answer will be marked wrong, but they will show as the same. This appears to be an issue with how to grade these.

Expected Behaviour:
As the value is still the same, it should be marked correctly.

While the Grade Centre will automatically contain columns for Tests, Surveys, and Assignments, you may also wish to add a column yourself to record scores for assessments taken outside of Blackboard.

Grade Centre

1. Expand the Grade Centre section of the Control Panel and choose Full Grade Centre.

Add Grade Column

2. Click on Create Column.

Name and Description

3. Enter a Name for the Column. This is a formal name for the column and is displayed in the Grade Centre if no Display Name (see below) is entered. This text box is limited to 15 characters.

4. If you wish you may enter a Display Name. This appears as a column header in the Grade Centre and is also limited to 15 characters. The display name only appears in the Grade Centre.

5. If you wish you may enter a description. This may help colleagues understand what the column is about.

Details

6. Set the Primary Display option using the dropdown menu. Usually score is used, but you may wish to one of the other options.

7. If you wish you may set a Secondary Display, which will be shown in the Grade Centre in parentheses.

8. If you wish you may select a category for this column. Categories can be used to create a smart view of the Grade Centre. You may also create your own categories (see the guide under What’s Related).

9. Enter the number of points possible – this is the maximum number of points that can be recorded against each student in this new column.

If you wish you may add a Rubric to the column. See the guide under “What’s Related“

Due Date

10. Set the marking period of the column if you wish. You may not see this option if you have not set up marking periods for your course.

11. If there is a Due Date associated with this column you may enter it here. Due dates can be used in the Early Warning Centre.

Options

12. Set the following options according to your preferences:

Include this column in Grade Centre calculations
Setting this option controls whether the scores in the column should be included in the total, or in any calculated columns you have set up.

Show this column in My Grades
Setting this option sets whether the score for this column should be shown to students when they click on My Grades.

Show Statistics (average and median) for this column in My Grades
This option determines whether statistical information such as average score should be shown to students when they click on My Grades.